Month: January 2012

For those who wish to complete the application on their own we offer an 8a Application Review service. Here, one of our 8a program experts will review your entire application, checking it for missing documents and potential eligibility issues. We will then advise you as to how best to modify your application to ensure it will be approved an SBA reviewer.

The majority of our clients however, prefer a little more of a hands-on approach. They recognize the expertise we have accumulated in the over 12 years we’ve been assisting clients obtain 8a certification, and want us to put it to use for them. If you opt for our 8a Application Completion Service, we will work one-on-one with you to ensure that your 8a Application is 100% complete and compliant so the SBA can review and accept it the first time.

With 14 years and over 2,000 successful applications under our belt, we can assure you that no matter which option you choose, Cloveer will work harder and faster to get your business SBA 8a certified. Contact us today to discover what Cloveer can do for you.

Spending the time upfront to ensure that your firm meets all of the eligibility requirements for 8(a) Certification can save you countless hours of frustration, the expense of putting the application together incorrectly and the difference between obtaining formal 8(a) Certification or not.

Below are just 15 of the 8(a) Application “Killers”. These will immediately tell you whether you have an issue that may prevent you from qualifying for 8(a) Certification.

1. The applicant (51% of more owner) must be a US Citizen when they apply.

2. The applicant must devote full time to the business concern that is applying for 8(a) Certification when they apply. This means the applicant must work at least 40 hours per week in the business concern without any outside employment.

3. The applicant must hold the highest management position within the business concern. Generally this is the CEO, President or Managing Member.

4. The applicant must be able to demonstrate that they are the highest compensated. Generally the SBA will deny your 8a application if you cannot demonstrate the applicant currently is the highest compensated or there is a very good reason why they have elected not to be.

5 The applicant must have an adjusted net worth of less than $250,000 at the time they apply. Adjusted net worth = Personal Assets – Personal liabilities – (Equity in primary residence + value of ownership interest in business concern + IRA/401(k) or Other Retirement Accounts subject to a penalty for early withdrawal). To determine if your adjusted net worth is lower than $250,000 use our adjusted net worth calculator.

6. The applicant’s AGI (Adjusted Gross Income) cannot be more than $250,000 averaged over the last three tax years.

7. The applicant must generally hold all licenses or professional certifications required to operate the business concern. If they do not, another equity owner cannot be the holder of the required licenses.

8. If the applicant has ownership in another business concern, other than the business concern that is applying for 8(a) Certification, the SBA may very well likely determine that you do not devote full time and therefore deny your 8(a) application. The only exception would be for ownership in an LLC for holding, managing and protecting real estate. There are ways to solve this issue and they vary depending on your unique condition.

9. The applicant cannot be on probation or parole. If the applicant has been arrested in the past it does not automatically deny them unless they were convicted of a specific crime. Having an arrest, regardless of how long ago, will severely delay the review of your 8a Application by at least 90 days.

10. The business concern must have been in business for 2 full years with evidence of reasonable revenues on its last two tax returns in the industry it is seeking 8(a) Certification for. If it has not, you must seek a waiver and meet the 5 conditions set by the SBA to overcome this condition. Click here for detailed information on each of the 5 conditions.

11. The business concern and the applicant cannot have any delinquent tax filings or have any unpaid Federal, State or local obligations at the time of application. This condition can be overcome by filing the proper extension for delinquent taxes or by providing evidence of a current re-payment arrangement for unpaid Federal, State or local obligations.

12. The business concern must be at least 51% directly owned by the applicant and must be defined as a “Small Business” by the Federal Government. Your primary NAICS code, gross sales and sometimes the number of employees define your size standard that the SBA will base its determination on.. The business concern must also be a for-profit business and cannot be classified as a broker or be a subsidiary of another business concern.

13. The business concern’s current financial statements must exhibit positive net income, positive net equity and sufficient working capital at the time of 8(a) application submission.

14. The business concern must not earn more than 70% of its total revenue with one single client, within the last 12 months. This does not apply to a business concern if its direct billing client is a Federal or State Government.

15. The applicant or business concern cannot have previously participated as an 8(a) participant. The applicant cannot have any immediate family members who are current or previous participants in the 8(a) Program that are or were affiliated.

These are just 15 of the “Killers” that can potentially prevent your 8(a) Certification application from being successful. There are additional “Killers” and other areas that you should be concerned with prior to making the decision on whether you fully qualify for 8(a) Certification. If you have additional questions or would like to discuss your specific business situation, please call us at 813-333-5800 or visit www.cloveer.com.

Cloveer, Inc. pre-qualifies all of its full service clients prior to preparing their 8(a Certification Application. With over 2,000 successful clients to date. Read some of our testimonials.

1. The firm’s Dun and Bradstreet (DUNS) profile does not show the correct company name or primary/physical office address.

Your firm’s Dun and Bradstreet profile must show the exact name of your company as it is shown on your Articles of Formation (Organization or Incorporation) documents. If you operate as a sole proprietor, your Dun and Bradstreet profile should show the full name of the individual and not a dba name (Doing Business Name) or fictitious business name used.

Additionally, your Dun and Bradstreet profile must show the correct primary/physical office address that you defined within your HUBZone application.

2. Payroll reports provided do not contain all of required information.

Your payroll report must show all employee names, number of hours worked for that pay period, the beginning and ending date of the pay period, wages, taxes and any adjustments.

Any employee who has been defined as one the 35% required to meet the SBA regulations must have worked a minimum of 40 hours in the month of the payroll report provided to be considered as full-time and they must appear on the payroll report covering the application date.

3. Articles of Formation (Organization or Incorporation) filed with your Secretary of State show a principal office address at some place other than what you defined in your HUBZone Application paperwork.

If you have changed your principal office address after filing your original or amended formation documents you must ensure that all filed documentation with your Secretary of State shows the principal office address that you have defined within your HUBZone Application.

These are just 3 of many HUBZone Application killers that will get your application denied. A denial of your HUBZone Application results in a minimum of 90 days day’s until you can reapply again. Submitting incorrect or inconsistent information can cause your application to be severely delayed.

If you are looking for assistance in preparing a complete and compliant HUBZone Application so it is submitted correctly and results in a successful HUBZone Certification in 90 days or less, please call us at 813-333-5800 or visit http://www.cloveer.com/hubzoneapplication.html.

To gain access to this system you must register. Registration is free.

The FPDS allows you to drill down deep within the data inputted into the system and can provide you valuable information to help in your Federal Marketing efforts.

For example, you can perform the following searches within the system.

1. How much did a specific federal agency spend in the most recently government fiscal year or past years using 8(a), HUBZone or Women-Owned Small Business as the set-aside method.
2. How many 8(a) actions or contracts were awarded within a specific agency. You can also drill down to a specific department, office or region within the agency.
3. Detailed information on the awarded contract such as:

The solicitation number

Date signed or completed

Type of contract

NAICS code

Product or Service Description

Place of Performance (City, State or Zip Code)

Competition Information (8(a), HUBZone, Women-Owned, etc.)

Name of Contractor

These are just a few of the parameters that you can search on within the FPDS. All of this information can give you a leg up on your competition by allowing you to narrow your marketing efforts to ferderal clients who have purchased your products and services.

Download a report (PDF) that shows the amount spent and the number of contracts awarded with each federal agency in FY 2011.

Here is a summary:8(a):Number of Contracts: 117,343
Total Dollars Spent: $16,633,899,024.15

1. Pay down your primary mortgage or HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit) from your personal checking, savings, stocks or mutual funds. Since the value of your primary residence, mortgage and HELOC do not factor into determining your Adjusted Net Worth, paying down your primary mortgage or HELOC can help reduce your Adjusted Net Worth.

2. Invest funds from your checking, Savings, Stocks or Mutual Funds into the business. You may be allowed to infuse personal funds into the business if your firm meets certain requirements. To determine whether this will be allowable in your unique case, an RMA (Risk Management Association) analysis must be performed.

We can perform an RMA analysis to see whether or not the SBA would allow you to infuse personal funds into additional Paid-In Capital. This may help drive down your Adjusted Net Worth to below the regulatory limit of $250,000.00. The keyword is “Allow”. The SBA will allow you to infuse additional funds into the business concern if it is found to be economically disadvantaged, by SBA Standards, at the time of the infusion of Additional Paid in Capital. In order for the SBA to determine that the business concern is found to be economically disadvantaged it utilizes data from the firm Risk Management Association (RMA) and its compiled figures/ratios to see if your firm exceeds 4 or more of the 7 figures/ratios to be discussed below. These figures/ratios compiled from RMA basically allow the SBA to compare your firm to other similar firms which are operating within the same NAICS code and also are within the same sales range (e.g. 0-1MM) against the following 7 figures/ratios:

1. Total Assets

2. Current Ratio (Current Assets/Current Liabilities)

3. Debt/Net Worth Ratio

4. Net Worth

5. Net Sales

6. Pre-Tax Profit

7. Sales/Working Capital Ratio

For more ways to reduce your Adjusted Net Worth or if you have questions about the SBA 8(a) Program, please call us at 813-333-5800 or visit www.cloveer.com.

The Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract Program provides equal access to federal contracting opportunities for women-owned small businesses (WOSB) and economically disadvantaged women-owned small businesses (EDWOSBs). The program allows contracting officers to set aside specific federal contracts for WOSBs and EDWOSBs.

There are over 300 6-digit North American Industry Classification Systems (NAICS) codes that are eligible for Federal contracting under the WOSB Program. Click here to download a a list.

Contracting officers may set aside a requirement for WOSBs if:

The NAICS code is in an industry in which SBA has designated that WOSBs are

substantially underrepresented.

The contracting officer has a reasonable expectation that two or more WOSBs will submit offers.

The anticipated award price of the contract does not exceed $6.5 million in the case of manufacturing contracts and $4 million in the case of all other contracts.

The contracting officer believes the contract can be awarded at a fair and reasonable price.

Contracting officers may set aside a requirement for EDWOSBs if:

The NAICS code is in an industry in which SBA has designated that EDWOSBs are underrepresented.

The contracting officer has a reasonable expectation that two or more EDWOSBs will submit offers.

The anticipated award price of the contract does not exceed $6.5 million in the case of manufacturing contracts and $4 million in the case of all other contracts.

In the estimation of the contracting officer, the contract can be awarded at a fair and reasonable price.